The bridge to Terabithia
The Bridge to Terabithia (original title: Bridge to Terabithia ) is a book for children and young people by the American writer Katherine Paterson . The first edition of the drama with illustrations by Donna Diamond appeared in the original language in 1977. The work was first published in German in 1981 in Edition Sven Bergh, based on a translation by Ursula von Wiese . This edition had the German title Die Brücke ins Another Land . As part of the DVD release of the latest theatrical adaptation of the novel , the Ravensburger publishing house brought out a new edition of the novel on September 1, 2007 with the literally translated title Die Brücke nach Terabithia . For this edition, the book has been newly translated by Vanessa Walder .
For The Bridge to Terabithia Paterson was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1978 .
content
Jess Aarons is a somewhat shy and dreamy outsider who lives as the only boy in a large family with four sisters and therefore does not have an easy position. His mother Nancy is often at the limit of her resilience and his father Jack is constantly on business and has little time for his children. To show his classmates that he's got something, Jess trains all summer for an important race. However, this race is won by a girl of all people: Leslie Burke, an only child who moved to Jess's neighborhood with her parents.
Because of his defeat in the race, Jess Leslie can't stand at first. But Leslie is open-minded and wins Jess's heart. She impresses Jess with her exuberant imagination and stimulates his creativity and his hitherto secret passion for painting. The two quickly become good friends, as Leslie is also an outsider at the new school. They spend the afternoons in a nearby forest, where they invent the fantasy kingdom “Terabithia”, which can only be reached by swinging an old rope over a small river. In order to better deal with the often adverse situations in everyday school and family life, imagine that you as king and queen rule over Terabithia and have to survive in the fight against powerful trolls.
One day, however, Jess makes a conscious decision against Leslie when his music teacher Miss Edmunds, with whom he has a secret crush, invites him to take her to Washington and visit the national art gallery . Since Jess is very interested in art, he accepts the offer. While he is in Washington with his teacher, Leslie tries to get to Terabithia alone. A terrible accident happens: the rope breaks, the girl falls very badly and dies from her severe head injury.
Jess is very sad and very guilty . It takes him a long time to come to terms with his girlfriend's death. Through the strength and courage that his deep friendship with Leslie gives him, he finally manages to overcome his grief. Using boards from the Burkes' house, who have moved away again, he builds a bridge to Terabithia for himself and his little sister May Belle.
background
The author came up with the idea for her book after a tragic accident. A good friend of her son David died of a lightning strike in August 1974, and Paterson was wondering how she could help her child cope with the loss.
She then devised a plot in which the main character is confronted with a similar situation. Since she has already allowed fantasy elements to flow into her books several times , she also used this for Die Brücke ins Another Land . Through the power of imagination and the deep friendship with his late comrade Leslie, the hero of the novel can finally overcome his feelings of guilt and grief. This examination of death can also be found in later works by the author. She believes that children should also be confronted with this issue.
In the foreword, the author writes that she had initially only dedicated the book to her son, but after he had read the story he asked her to put Lisa Hill's name next to it.
The name of the imaginative Terabithia is a tribute to the fantasy book series The Chronicles of Narnia by the British author CS Lewis , which Paterson values very much. An island with the similar name "Terebinthia" is mentioned several times. In the novel Bridge to Terabithia, Leslie gives the Chronicles of Narnia to her friend Jess to read so he can learn how to behave as a king.
The book was one of the most lent books in the USA between 1990 and 2000 and is often used in school lessons in English-speaking countries.
Film adaptations
The novel has been filmed twice so far:
- 1985: Bridge to Terabithia (TV, live action) only broadcast in the US and Canada
- 2007: Bridge to Terabithia (cinema, real film)
literature
- Katherine Paterson: The Bridge to the Other Country. From the American by Ursula von Wiese. Edition Sven Erik Bergh, Unterägeri 1981, ISBN 978-3-7163-0128-9 .
- Katherine Paterson: The Bridge to Terabithia. From the American by Vanessa Walder. Ravensburger Buchverlag, Ravensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-473-34716-2 .
Web links
- "The Bridge to Another Land" - Dying and Death as a Topic in Children's Literature Diploma thesis as PDF file (1.04 MB)
swell
- ↑ List of awards
- ↑ Interview with author Katherine Paterson
- ↑ List of the most lent books in the USA between 1990 and 2000 ( memento of the original from January 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
